Many Ethereum validators opted to withdraw their cryptocurrency from the blockchain’s staking mechanism last month after the network’s Shapella upgrade went live, allowing redemptions for the first time.
But some validators who withdrew to wallets hosted by the big U.S. crypto exchange Coinbase were treated to an unwelcome surprise: The proper tech support wasn’t in place to receive these deposits, so the funds were stuck.
“Our systems currently do not support deposits to Coinbase ETH addresses from external validators,” a customer support representative told CoinDesk. “Funds may be stuck until we are able to support these transactions.”
A number of users have posted to Reddit their concerns – some 42 comments as of press time – about asset balances not reflecting ether staking withdrawals on Coinbase wallets. CoinDesk’s own Ethereum validator, Zelda, appears to be among those affected, even though blockchain records show that the staked ether became withdrawable on April 25.
McKenna Otterstedt, a product communications senior associate for Coinbase, confirmed that there is a “technical issue” and that the company’s teams “are working on a solution.”
She declined to detail how many users were affected or how much ETH was stuck in limbo.
Coinbase offers its own staking services, including through public validators owned and operated by Coinbase Cloud. According to the blockchain-analysis firm Nansen, Coinbase “currently accounts for the greatest amount of ETH in the withdrawal queue (40% of the total).”
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“We do not recommend configuring rewards and unstaking withdrawals from externally staked ETH to your Coinbase ETH wallet until this is fixed,” wrote Coinbase’s customer support to CoinDesk.
